Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 24, 2015 P127 lier. The black flag meant immediate disqualifica- tion for Reed and zero points on the night. Chad readily admitted to the offense, but contends that the punishment was too severe and should have been meted following the race. Gallagher's response is that racing incidents are expected in Supercross and have always been tolerated, within reason. According to John, Chad's offense became worthy of a black flag when his primary objective changed from moving forward in the race (winning), to targeting Trey Canard (retali- ation). Had Chad held off on his payback until a time when he could pass it off as a racing incident, he would not have been black-flagged. But he was black-flagged and it ended his night prematurely and certainly cost him a substantial number of points. Because he was unable to continue, it's impossible to say how many. Chad took a podium a week later in Oakland and was eighth going into Atlanta. This brings us to the feud between Reed and Tomac. During an interview after the Dallas race, Eli made some comments in which he stated that he had taken Reed out as retaliation for what had happened in San Diego, according to Reed's team manager Dave Osterman. I have not seen or heard the actual remarks, but others have confirmed this to me. Dave contends that, in light of the AMA's anti-retaliation stance and Tomac's public admis- sion, Gallagher should take away Eli's points. He contacted Gallagher last week and expressed his concerns. The AMA response, via Gallagher, is that the rules allow a protest to be filed within a 30-minute window after the race, which was not done and the results were finalized. That did not sit well with Reed's camp and somewhere along the way there was discus- sion about setting up a meeting, purportedly for the purpose of diffusing the tension between the Honda and TwoTwo camps, in an attempt to avoid further escalation. On Friday afternoon, Gallagher was invited by Osterman to the TwoTwo rig for a meeting with Dave and Chad. I'll spare you the details, but apparently it didn't take long for their discussion to become a heated argument. Voices were raised, words were said and nothing was resolved. I once knew a girl who liked to argue, and then make up for it later, it seemed to fire her up. I can't help but wonder if argu- ing might have a similar effect on Chad Reed, because the next day he did a little grudge-romping of his own, leading the Atlanta Su- percross from start to finish. One thing about Reed, when he gets a whiff of the lead he steps it up a notch or three. Note: In the interest of full dis- closure, I've known John Gallagher for 35 years, since the night he broke up a fistfight between me and Rex Staten in the infield of Corona Race- way. We remain good friends. I've also known Dave Osterman for at least that long, since his days as Mike Bell's mechanic. We remain good friends. He rents a room from me a couple nights a week, because I live near Chad's race shop. I've known Chad since he first came to the U.S. to race and consider him a friend. I have no dog in this fight and have stayed neutral, while ex- pressing my opinion to both parties, which they neither asked for, nor cared about. CN "I once knew a girl who liked to argue, and then make up for it later, it seemed to fire her up. I can't help but wonder if arguing might have a similar effect on Chad Reed..."

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